Unlike Michael Briguglio, Marie Briguglio and James Debono I have no intention of apologising or justifying myself for addressing yesterday’s demonstration in Valletta. I did not organise the event but I am grateful to those who did because if they hadn’t, no one else looked like they would.

And there is space for as many demonstrations as anyone around wishes to organise.

They said the roll of speakers was pro-PN. Quite apart the fact that Adrian Delia would probably hesitate to agree with that description of me. I refuse to be embarrassed by my political record, my political views and my political affiliations.

I was asked to speak at an event demanding justice in the wake of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. When I got on stage I did not ask people to like me. I did not ask them to vote for the PN. In no shape or form did I pronounce anything that could be construed to be serving anyone’s partisan interest.

I mourned Daphne. I saluted her family. I explained why I felt she was killed. I expressed sadness and anger at what happened to her. I asked people not to despair and to continue the work of revealing the truth. I dare anyone to find anything objectionable in what I said.

Of course not.

If having worked in public service for most of my adult life disqualifies me from having these views, even if it is agreed there is nothing objectionable in the views themselves, then let’s get on with it and shoot me now.

They cannot say they are happy Daphne died. Though they are. They cannot say they hate her family. Though they do. They cannot say they would rather she never revealed what she did and no new revelations follow after she died. But they would.

So instead of attacking the argument, they attack the person. The first fallacy in the list of the most childish of them.

It is not that Manuel Delia said anything wrong. Or Michael Briguglio. Or Marie Briguglio. Or James Debono. It’s that they’re not Labour or some nondescript vanilla, which in any case is closet Labour.

Mark Camilleri, Timothy Alden, Andre Callus, Alex Vella Gera and the rest of you pseudo-intellectual auto-castrated closet fascists with 100% cotton souvenir Che t-shirts still lovingly wrapped in plastic: buzz off, won’t you?

If your little hurt egos are frustrated because you were not invited to speak go think about what you did wrong whilst clipping your toe nails. It’s probably because you publicly said nothing when Daphne died and in the case of some of you rather more bitter sods you privately celebrated the fact she won’t be uncovering your wet togas any more.

For those who want “non-partisan neutral people” (whatever that means) to speak at these events, I challenge you to find people without opinions that have anything actually worth saying. If you’re a “non-partisan neutral person” you should understand why you have lived your life with an audience of one.

Michael Briguglio worked night and day to manage the organisational miracle of conjuring Sunday’s march that frankly saved the nation from the embarrassing reporting going around the world that could not explain how the Maltese were not even capable of mourning a journalist when she’s blown up in a car bomb.

His blood, sweat and tears are being rewarded by the sordid alliance of armchair good for nothing above-it-all useless farts and the Labour Party, whose policy is to suppress any further discussion on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s death.

And Michael Briguglio, for this is how he gets me to criticise him, actually stoops to demonstrate his credentials of a life-time career of activism as if he needs to justify himself to these pipe-smoking grass heads.

Hey listen. If you don’t like Michael Briguglio’s marches, organise your own. If you don’t like his guest speakers, invite your own at yours. Michael Briguglio did not get a state-sponsored monopolistic license on civil society activism. If you don’t like what he does, please, let’s see you impress us.

Photo accompanying this piece is by The Malta Independent.